Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) CEO Bryan B. Deboer Sells 6,742 Shares

Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) CEO Bryan B. Deboer sold 6,742 shares of Lithia Motors stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,696,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,778,000. The trade was a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Lithia Motors Price Performance

Shares of LAD stock opened at $394.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Lithia Motors, Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.00 and a twelve month high of $405.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $330.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.79.

Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $8.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.60 by $0.61. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The company had revenue of $9.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Lithia Motors, Inc. will post 29.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lithia Motors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Lithia Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 14.7% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,700,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,390,000 after purchasing an additional 217,867 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 25.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,016,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,621,000 after buying an additional 203,543 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lithia Motors by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 753,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,204,000 after buying an additional 85,579 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lithia Motors by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 365,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,997,000 after buying an additional 78,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tensile Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Lithia Motors by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tensile Capital Management LP now owns 261,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,071,000 after acquiring an additional 6,252 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Lithia Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Lithia Motors from $375.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com lowered Lithia Motors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Lithia Motors from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Lithia Motors from $380.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $357.60.

About Lithia Motors

Lithia Motors, Inc operates as an automotive retailer worldwide. It operates in two segments, Vehicle Operations and Financing Operations. The company’s Vehicle Operations segment sells new and used vehicles; provides parts, repair, and maintenance services; vehicle finance; and insurance products. Its Financing Operations segment provides financing to customers buying and leasing retail vehicles.